On Monday last a very sudden death took place at the above village. Private John Bates, aged 32, of the Sherwood Foresters, who had been on a weekend furlough to visit his wife and family at Kirk Ireton, was wending his way to Idridgehay Station to rejoin his regiment, when some children who were playing about at the time noticed the soldier fall. As he made no attempt to get up, the children procured assistance, and the poor fellow was picked up and carried into the Swan Inn. Dr Broster, who shortly afterwards was passing through the village, was called in by Mr E Stone, the licensee of the Swan Inn, but the doctor could only pronounce life to be extinct. As a sequel to the above, an inquest was held on the body at the Swan Inn on Wednesday by Mr R W Sale, of Derby (Coroner for the district). Dr Broster testified that the cause of death was heart disease and the jury returned a verdict to that effect."

I beg to inform you that on the 15th December '15, R W Sale Esq., HM Coroner of Derby, held an inquest at ?The White Swan Inn?, Idridgehay, Nr Derby, on the body of the above named, when the jury gave the following verdict:- ?That the deceased died from heart disease? (Sgd) R W Sale.

John was born in Bolton Lancashire but was resident in Belper he was a Stove Fitter and was the son of John Bates a Baker and Martha Alice Bates and the husband of Rose Bates, of 32, Mill Street, Belper.

John appears on the 1901 Census living with his parents in Queen Street, Belper, Derbyshire.